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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Dillard says that a particular object remains unseen until what happens?
(a) it moves
(b) one's attention is focused on it
(c) the name of the object is known
(d) a light is turned on

2. What causes most insects' behavior?
(a) the structure of their exoskeleton
(b) innate programming
(c) imitating parents
(d) external stimuli

3. Thinking about God and nature, what does Dillard come to believe is possible?
(a) God has created much, if not all, of creation in jest
(b) nature is a God unto itself
(c) nature has created God
(d) God was sleeping and messed up some of nature

4. Why do birds sing?
(a) to signal to other birds
(b) scientists really do not know why birds sing
(c) because they like to hear themselves
(d) to praise the sun

5. What is Dillard illustrating in her story about the Polyphemus moth from her childhood?
(a) the indifference humans often exhibit towards the natural world
(b) she has a good memory
(c) kids are cruel
(d) moths have to spread their weeks when born

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 2, Dillard talks of a game she played where she would hide what?

2. How do praying mantises mate?

3. Why did Dillard name this chapter "Seeing?"

4. In Chapter 7 who gravitates towards the circle on the bottom of Dillard's fishbowl?

5. What does the author believe separates humans from their creator and humans from each other?

Short Essay Questions

1. This very brief chapter, "Untying the Knot," is about time. What does Dillard want time to be?

2. Dillard remembers once seeing migrating Canadian geese fly, speeding across the duck pond which leads her to think what?

3. In most of this book, what does Dillard primarily see about nature and how does it affect her?

4. How is the story about the caddisfly applicable to Dillard's obsession with the present?

5. The first section of Chapter 8 is titled, "Intricacy." What might this title mean and how does Dillard's writing change to reflect this?

6. Why does Dillard question both the morality and the compassion of nature?

7. Briefly tell the story written in Chapter 15 about a young man and his mother.

8. In Chapter 12, Dillard observes the world at night. Considering the grasshoppers leads her into thoughts of locusts. How did early people see locusts, and where does Dillard's thoughts on them lead?

9. How does Dillard see as the difference between plant and animal fecundity?

10. Dillard thinks about arctic explorations, which use the term "northing," to denote traveling in a northerly direction. How does she see "northing" in her own life?

(see the answer keys)

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